Why this matters: The Fall 2025 Real Estate Bulletin examines statistics from the California Department of Real Estate’s (DRE)’s last fiscal year regarding their activities. The better informed brokers and agents are about the nature of licensee activities of concern to the DRE, the more the resulting consumer protection will reward compliant licensees.

DRE audits

Department of Real Estate (DRE) Commissioner Chika Sunquist opened the Fall 2025 Real Estate Bulletin emphasizing the mandated DRE’s commitment to protect members of the public in their use of real estate licensee services and real estate activities with DRE oversight.

One strong aspect of consumer protection the DRE undertakes is routine audits of licensee’s files to ensure compliance with real estate law — public policy — in their practices.

Frequently, routine audits are conducted to assure proper handling of trust funds received by brokers on behalf of owners of the funds.

There are two types of audits:

  • investigative audits: resulting from a public complaint or a previous disciplinary action; and
  • proactive audits: routine and unrelated to a public complaint.

The DRE conducted 347 audits in the 2024-2025 fiscal year of July to June. Of the audits, 200 were investigative audits and 147 were proactive audits.

In the fiscal year ending June 2025, the DRE discovered over $15 million in trust fund shortages.

CE audits

One type of audit presenting in process concerns licensee reporting of their continuing education (CE) credits. Educational audits check into licensee CE records by requesting the licensee to send a copy of their course completion certificates for their most recent renewal.

Unlike qualification courses to obtain an agent or broker license, copies of certificates of completion are not otherwise sent to the DRE. Licensees are trusted to have actually completed the CE education they submitted for a renewal.

The purpose for these CE audits is the DRE’s way to ensure the public receives licensed services from well-informed licensees. The purpose is to confirm real estate licensees are actually taking courses and maintaining their skills through mandated 45-hour CE rather than permitting schools to directly report completions to the DRE, like smog checks with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Licensees need to respond promptly to a DRE request with the understanding routine audits are necessary for the DRE to track down education fraud in workarounds. Copies of course completion certificates are submitted to the DRE via e-mail to noreplyeducation@dre.ca.gov or mail to:

651 Bannon Street

Suite 504 – Education Section

Sacramento, CA 95811

As a real estate CE course provider, firsttuesday on request from a student immediately provides the student with a copy of their certificates to comply with the DRE’s document request.

firsttuesday comment: So far, all licensees asking for copies of their certificates to comply with the DRE request have actually been students who completed their CE courses with firsttuesday.  

Disciplinary actions

In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the DRE issued the following disciplinary actions to licensees:

  • 206 license revocations;
  • 78 license suspensions;
  • 46 voluntary surrenders; and
  • 89 license application denials.

Consumer Recovery Account Fund

The DRE’s Consumer Recovery Account Fund is a fund of last resort (and of small amount) for victims of real estate fraud by a licensee acting in the capacity of an agent. It is initially funded by licensing fees received by the DRE and replenished by repayment by the judgment-debtor licensee.

Victims recover their losses from the fund, subject to a monetary ceiling, when a licensee has no financial ability to pay for the loss, no attorney fees included.

In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the DRE’s Consumer Recovery Account Fund:

  • received 2,918 new claims for payment;
  • paid 22 claims totaling $379,495; and
  • denied 1,815 claims.

State exam updates

In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the DRE updated its salesperson and broker license exams to eliminate the adverse effect of fraud by a qualification course provider. The updated exams are currently being administered to aspiring agents and brokers across the state.

For the fiscal year ending June 2025, the DRE administered 32,013 salespersons license exams.

For an overview of the annual pace for the DRE-administered salesperson license exams, consider the following data:

  • 32,013 in FY 2024-2025;
  • 46,412 in FY 2023-2024; and
  • 44,183 in FY 2022-2023.

The DRE administered the following broker license exams:

  • 2,919 in FY 2024-2025;
  • 3,869 in FY 2023-2024; and
  • 3,360 in FY 2022-2023.

More important to employing brokers seeking new agents for their vacant cubbies, the DRE issued:

  • 16,535 salespersons licenses; and
  • 3,242 broker licenses, the vast majority of which were not previously licensed salespersons with the DRE.

Related article:

DRE Bulletin Digest: Spring 2025

License renewals

The DRE reports the percentage of licensees who renewed their license in 2024-2025 remained consistent with historical averages. 75% of salespersons and 91% of brokers renewed their licenses.

  • For FY 2023-2024, 76% of salespersons and 91% of brokers renewed their licenses, while
  • in FY 2022-2023, 75% of salespersons and 91% of brokers renewed their licenses.

Licensee population

The 2024-2025 fiscal year ended with a DRE license population of:

  • 424,188 total licensees, including:
    • 303,470 salespersons; and
    • 120,718 brokers, comprising 24,730 corporate brokers and 93,296 individual brokers in November 2025.

The June 2025 total DRE license population was down 9,322 licenses, or 2% year over.

The DRE broker licensee population by category as of November 2025 was:

  • 24,781 corporate broker officers;
  • 1,484 individual broker officers;
  • 85,618 active individual brokers;
  • 7,678 inactive individual brokers; and
  • 28,293 individual employing brokers.

Education approvals

In FY 2024-2025, the DRE reviewed and approved 263 CE courses, 42 statutory courses and 124 CE equivalency petitions for individuals.

In June 2025, 63 CE course providers offered 525 approved courses, and 163 qualification course providers offered 859 approved courses.

firsttuesday currently offers you 7 CE courses and 8 statutory courses. Included are the only video-based 45-hour renewal and the only video-based Real Estate Principles courses approved by the DRE.

Sign up to one of our human-scripted courses today at www.firsttuesday.us.